Christie Quietly Signs So-Called Dirty Water Bill

By Tom Johnson

Without any fanfare, Gov. Chris Christie this week signed a bill that conservationists and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned could lead to increased pollution into the state's already degraded waterways.

The bill was one of several from the lame-duck legislature signed by the governor before noon Tuesday - the deadline to act on legislation that had been approved in the prior legislative session, which ended a week ago Tuesday.

His office did not announce the signing until early in the evening, burying the action on a busy day in Trenton when the governor's State of the State message overshadowed all other events in the Statehouse.

The bill (S-3136) essentially delays adoption of new sewer service areas for two years, a postponement proponents of the measure argue will afford the state Department of Environmental Protection time to rewrite the rules that the agency has called "unworkable."

Rushed through the lame-duck session, the bill was bitterly opposed by virtually all of the state's major environmental groups who view the law as a major rollback of water protections afforded by adoption of new water quality management rules in 2008. Those rules essentially blocked 300,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land from being included in sewer service areas, which would make their development difficult.

Even though the bill only surfaced in mid-December, it has come under increasing scrutiny from opponents, who dubbed it "the dirty water bill," as well as the EPA and in the press. The Asbury Park Press this week completed a three-part series on the poor quality of New Jersey's waterways, which the article noted 90 percent of the streams and rivers in the state are impaired.

The federal environmental agency also cautioned the state against delaying the rules' implementation. In a letter from Regional Administrator Judith Enck, the agency said, "By delaying implementation of these rules, the bill could undermine years of comprehensive planning and lead to degradation of surface and ground water."

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